Genuine Viennese coffee house culture and international food combined in a cosy atmosphere.

JUST a stone’s throw away from Kamppi is a small enclave of traditional Austrian bakery art combined with international cuisine. Situated in a relatively calm neighbourhood away from all the city turmoil, the Krulla Wiener Kaffeehaus offers a calming haven for stressed city dwellers and culinary treats for hungry visitors.

The Internet has impacted every aspect of our lives during the past 20 years, from grocery shopping to Google and from Facebook to data collection. But for all of its impact, there has been surprisingly little discussion about the various positive or negative sides to the changes.

The positives I think are more obvious. We have access to more information in fifteen seconds than was available to previous generations in a week of library visits. We can locate weather forecasts, stock prices, the name of the guitarist on “Station to Station” or the team sheet for HJK’s latest debacle in the Champions League.

Pizzas, pastas, salads and Tex Mex food come together at this local institution.

ANYONE who has spent a couple of hours walking through Helsinki’s city centre is able to recognise Iguana’s logo. For almost 20 years, Iguana restaurants have been offering affordable Tex-Mex style food in the heart of Helsinki and their green neon logos have become part of the city’s landscape. The first Iguana was opened in Mannerheimintie in 1994 to offer Mexican style food, good music and a friendly environment. With two other locations in Helsinki, one in Kesakatu and another in Kaisaniemienkatu, we visited the latter to have a taste of their Mexican food.

It’s called the Dawn Chorus...that hour or so before sunrise when the air is thick with bird song. It is at its most prominent in spring as birds mark their territory and began to mate. Or at least, they used to. These days the Dawn Chorus is a shadow of its former winged self.

A lot of research has been conducted into the loss of bird life in the UK, with depressing results. The number of birds in the UK has fallen from 210 million to 166 million since 1966. It is estimated that the UK loses one breeding pair of birds every minute.

A taste of the American steakhouse can be found from this Estonian restaurant chain, recently arriving in Helsinki for the first time.

CONSIDERING the popularity of pihvi here in Finland, it comes as no surprise that Estonian chain GOODWIN Steak House has recently made their home in Helsinki. Offering a variety of beefy dishes, the restaurant uses the concept of the authentic American steakhouse as their template, and represents the only chain of its kind to be found in the Baltics and Scandinavia.